Measurement systems and methods for fingerprinting positioning

ABSTRACT

A system, computer software and method for collecting, in addition to position data, additional positioning data in a user terminal served by a communication network. The method includes initiating, by generating a message within the user terminal, collection of the positioning data, where the positioning data includes information based on which a physical location of the user terminal is determined; measuring, by the user terminal, at least one parameter related to the physical location of the user terminal in response to the message; producing, within the user terminal, measurement reports that include the at least one parameter; selecting, within the user terminal, one or more measurement reports that were generated in response to the message generated by the user terminal; reporting the selected one or more measurement reports to an interface within the user terminal; and transmitting, from the interface, the reported one or more measurement reports to an external server or to the communication network.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of co-pending U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 15/196,852, filed on Jun. 29, 2016, which is a Continuation ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/087,561, filed on Nov. 22, 2013 andissued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,408,179 on Aug. 2, 2016, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/864,023, filed onJul. 22, 2010 and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,611,922 on Dec. 17, 2013,which is a 371 of International Application PCT/SE2008/051126, filed onOct. 6, 2008, which claims priority from, U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 61/023,984, filed on Jan. 28, 2008, entitled“Measurement Systems and Methods for Fingerprinting Positioning” to T.Wigren et al., the entire disclosures of which are incorporated hereinby reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This application is related, generally, to communications systems, userterminals and methods and, more specifically, to positioning techniques,services, devices and software associated therewith.

BACKGROUND

Mobile handsets, and services on mobile handsets (mobile handset alsorefers to embedded devices in e.g. PCs, laptops, vehicles etc.) have hada rapid evolution during the last decade. When 3GPP standardized GSM,and later 3G during the late 1980's and 1990's, circuit switchedtelephony and later Short Message Service (SMS) were pretty much theonly services available. Since then, mobile handsets and networks haveevolved to create powerful devices capable of running both localapplications and browser based services, connected to a networkproviding a bandwidth high enough for TV and interactive multimedia.With the increasing bandwidth, and need to provide a feasible technicalplatform and transport technology for multimedia services,packet-switched networks, e.g., using Internet Protocol (IP) as thefundamental technology, are becoming the dominating platforms for mobileservices. There are a number of reasons why this trend is beingsupported by most actors in the communications business. One reason isthat third parties will start to develop applications for such systems,and just as in the case with Internet, this will likely be a key to theexpected success of next generation technologies. Another reason is thatIP provides a technology platform where it is cheaper to deployfunctionality. This is to a large extent due to economy of scale, astechnology also used by the IT industry is cheaper than traditionaltelecom technology.

Another aspect of mobile systems and devices which has experiencedsignificant growth over the last 10 years or so is positioning orlocation-based services, e.g., services and associated techniques andmechanisms for determining a current location of a mobile phone.Initially introduced to, for example, support emergency (e.g., E911)services, positioning techniques and services will likely be used forother purposes in the future.

Fingerprinting positioning algorithms operate by creating a radiofingerprint for each point of a fine coordinate grid that covers theRadio Access Network (RAN). The fingerprint may, for example, include:(1) the cell IDs that are detected by the terminal (e.g., mobile phone)for each grid point, including Cell IDs detected which belong to otherpublic land mobile networks (PLMNs) than the present PLMN to which thatterminal is connected, (2) cell information broadcast by base stations,(3) quantized path loss or signal strength measurements, with respect tomultiple Radio Base Stations (RBSs), performed by the terminal, in atleast a subset of the grid points, (4) quantized Round Trip Time (RTT,in wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA)) or Timing Advance(TA, in GSM)), in each grid point, (5) quantized noise rise,representing the load of a CDMA system, in each grid point, (6) radioconnection information, such as the radio access bearer (RAB), (7)quantized time. Using such information, whenever a position requestarrives to the fingerprinting positioning function, a radio fingerprintis first measured, after which the corresponding grid point is looked upand reported. Naturally, the point to be reported should be unique,otherwise special procedures need to be applied.

The fingerprinted positions can be generated in several ways. Forexample, a first alternative would be to perform an extensive surveyingoperation that performs fingerprinting radio measurements repeatedly forall coordinate grid points of the RAN. The disadvantages of thisapproach includes: (1) the surveying required becomes substantial, evenfor small cellular networks, and (2) the radio fingerprints are, atleast in some instants (e.g., those associated with signal strength andpathloss), sensitive to the orientation of the terminal, a fact that isparticularly troublesome for handheld terminals. For fine grids, theaccuracies of the fingerprinted positions therefore become more highlyuncertain. This is unfortunately seldom reflected in the accuracy of thereported geographical shape.

Another approach, applied, e.g., in Adaptive Enhanced Cell IDentitypositioning (AECID), is to replace the fine grid by high precisionposition measurements of opportunity, and to provide fingerprintingradio measurements for those points. This avoids the drawbacks of thefirst described fingerprinting technique, however it requires thatalgorithms for clustering of high precision position measurements ofopportunity be defined and that algorithms for computation ofgeographical descriptions of the clusters be defined. More detailsregarding exemplary AECID techniques and mechanisms are provided below.Patent Applications authored by T. Wigren, PCT/SE2005/001485 entitled“Adaptive Enhanced Cell Identity Positioning”, and PCT/SE2006/000132,entitled “Path Loss Polygon Positioning”, the disclosures of which areincorporated herein by reference, fully describe these techniques.

Recently, some service providers, e.g., Google, have initiated analternative to conventional cellular positioning methods. Their approachis based on standardised interfaces (e.g., Java Micro edition, Symbian,Linux and Windows for Mobile) for applications in the cell phone. Suchinterfaces make it possible to access cell data, neighbour cell listsand the results of basic measurement information that is available inthe mobile phone or terminal for other purposes. This alternative isfurther based on means to retrieve a reference position, typically usingGPS or Assisted GPS (A-GPS) data, given the availability of suchfeatures in a sufficient number of phones. Basically, when a GPS (orA-GPS) positioning is performed, the interface is exploited in order toreport available position related information to a server, e.g., ownedand operated by the service provider. The so obtained GPS positions,together with the associated information available via the softwareinterface, allows the service provider to, for example, build upglobally valid mappings of cell ID/Network ID tagged with globally validand accurate positions by correlating these bits of information in theirserver. Furthermore, corresponding neighbour cell relations can beconstructed.

However, the present techniques are limited to the information that isavailable in the terminal device, i.e., information that was collectedby the terminal device at the request of the RAN, and also toinformation that was obtained in the past, i.e., information that may beoutdated.

Thus, for the positioning techniques, systems and methods which use theservice provider controlled interfaces within the terminal device, asdescribed above, it would be beneficial to obtain, and use, additionalpositioning related information.

SUMMARY

According to an exemplary embodiment, there is a method for collecting,in addition to position data, additional positioning data in a userterminal served by a communication network. The method includesinitiating, by generating a message within the user terminal, collectionof the additional positioning data, wherein the additional positioningdata includes information based on which a physical location of the userterminal is determined; measuring, by the user terminal, at least oneparameter related to the physical location of the user terminal inresponse to the message; producing, within the user terminal,measurement reports that include the at least one parameter; selecting,within the user terminal, one or more measurement reports that weregenerated in response to the message generated by the user terminal;reporting the selected one or more measurement reports to an interfacewithin the user terminal; and transmitting, from the interface, thereported one or more measurement reports to an external server or to thecommunication network.

A user terminal configured to collect, in addition to position data,additional positioning data, the user terminal being served by acommunication network. The user terminal includes a processor configuredto initiate, by generating a message, collection of the additionalpositioning data, wherein the additional positioning data includesinformation based on which a physical location of the user terminal isdetermined, instruct a measuring unit to measure at least one parameterrelated to the physical location of the user terminal in response to themessage, generate measurement reports that include the at least oneparameter, instruct a selecting unit to select one or more measurementreports that were generated in response to the message generated by theuser terminal, and report the selected one or more measurement reportsto an interface within the user terminal. The user terminal alsoincludes a transceiver connected to the processor and configured totransmit the reported one or more measurement reports to an externalserver or to the communication network.

According to still another exemplary embodiment, there is a computerreadable medium for storing instructions, wherein the instructions, whenexecuted by a processor, cause the processor to collect, in addition toposition data, additional positioning data in a user terminal served bya communication network. The instructions include initiating, bygenerating a message within the user terminal, collection of theadditional positioning data, wherein the additional positioning dataincludes information based on which a physical location of the userterminal is determined; measuring, by the user terminal, at least oneparameter related to the physical location of the user terminal inresponse to the message; producing, within the user terminal,measurement reports that include the at least one parameter; selecting,within the user terminal, one or more measurement reports that weregenerated in response to the message generated by the user terminal;reporting the selected one or more measurement reports to an interfacewithin the user terminal; and transmitting, from the interface, thereported one or more measurement reports to an external server or to thecommunication network.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings illustrate exemplary embodiments, wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates a communication network;

FIG. 2 illustrates steps performed according to the Adaptive EnhancedCell Identity positioning;

FIG. 3 illustrates a communication network that uses A-GPS;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating steps performed for determiningfingerprinting data according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating how messages from outside andinside the user terminal are handled according to an exemplaryembodiment;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating how measurements performed inresponse to the received messages are handled in the user terminalaccording to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of an interface of the user terminalaccording to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of the user terminal;

FIG. 9 is a flow chart illustrating steps for collecting positioningdata according to an exemplary embodiment; and

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of the user terminal.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description of the exemplary embodiments refersto the accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers in differentdrawings identify the same or similar elements. Also, the followingdetailed description does not limit the invention. Instead, the scope ofthe invention is defined by the appended claims.

Reference throughout the specification to “one exemplary embodiment” or“an exemplary embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, orcharacteristic described in connection with an embodiment is included inat least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, the appearanceof the phrases “in one embodiment” or “in an embodiment” in variousplaces throughout the specification is not necessarily referring to thesame embodiment. Further, the particular features, structures orcharacteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or moreembodiments.

As described above, it is possible to exploit various interfaces in, forexample, the cellular phone, e.g., Java Micro edition, Symbian, Linuxand Windows for Mobile interfaces, that have access to cell IDs andposition related measurement results like signal strengths, with respectto multiple RBSs. By correlating this information with high precisionposition measurements, e.g., from A-GPS, it becomes possible to create aglobal map of the cellular networks, which map is useful for variouspositioning purposes, e.g., advertising. In an exemplary embodimentshown in FIG. 1, this may be performed in a system 10 that includes theuser terminal 12 and the communication network 14, by signaling theinformation and A-GPS positions from the terminal device 12 to a server16, and performing correlations of the received information in theserver 16.

More specifically, the system 10 shown in FIG. 1 may include a corenetwork (CN) 18 and the RNC control 20. The RNC control 20 controls theinterface of the user terminal 12 and initiate measurements ofpositioning information in step 1. The user terminal 12, in response tothe instructions received from the RNC 20, starts to perform therequired measurements in step 2. Then, the user terminal 12 reports themeasurements back to the RNC control 20 in step 3. The RNC control 20may use this information to detect a position of a user terminal or maytransfer the information to a server 16, which is part of thecommunication network 14, to perform this operation. Alternatively, thisoperation can be performed in the user terminal 12, still under thecontrol of RNC 20, followed by reporting the correlations themselves tothe server 16 or 20.

However, there is additional position related information, i.e., otherthan cell IDs, signal strengths and Timing Advance (TA) information,that may be available in cellular phones (or other types of mobiledevices) and that can be exploited for positioning purposes by anextended version of such interfaces according to these exemplaryembodiments.

According to an exemplary embodiment, such additional position relatedinformation includes, for example, the result of SFN-SFN (System FrameNumber) type 1 and/or 2 measurements on the WCDMA Common Pilot Channel(CPICH) pilot channel. For a discussion of these types of measurementssee T. Wigren, PCT/SE2005/001485 entitled “Adaptive Enhanced CellIdentity Positioning”, and PCT/SE2006/000132, entitled “Path LossPolygon Positioning”, the disclosures of which are incorporated here byreference. These SFN-SFN type 1 and 2 measurements, when combined, leadto the Observed Time Difference Of Arrival (OTDOA(-IPDL Idle Period inthe Downlink)) method for positioning. It may be the case that thesensitivity of the SFN-SFN measurement may not be enough for a standalone implementation. However, it would nonetheless be beneficial to usethe information in a fingerprinting method, as described below in moredetail.

According to another exemplary embodiment, an additional positionrelated piece of information which can be obtained is the result ofEnhanced Observed Time Difference (E-OTD) measurements, i.e., relativetime differences or absolute times from normal or dummy bursts sent bynearby pairs of BTSes, in the GSM system, see, e.g., TS 43.059,Functional Stage 2 description of LCD in GERAN, the disclosure of whichis incorporated here by reference. The usage of this type of informationcan be the same as for SFN-SFN type 1 and 2 measurements.

According to another exemplary embodiment, another type of additional,position related information which can be obtained is the result ofinter-Radio Access Technology (inter-RAT) measurements (cell ID andsignal strength) from GSM on WCDMA and vice versa. Alternatively, themore recently specified LTE system could also be involved in suchinter-RAT measurements.

Regarding the additional position related information discussed in theprevious embodiments, it is noted that neither of the SFN-SFN type 1 and2 measurements, the result of E-OTD measurements, or the result ofinter-RAT are presently available at the above mentioned interfaces inexiting user terminals. In addition, the communication network, morespecifically the RNC, is not configured to instruct the user terminalsto detect this additional position related information. In other words,the additional position related information discussed above is notpresently available by the user terminals. Thus, none of the existingfingerprinting methods disclosed in the background section are detectingthe additional position related information. Further, none of theexisting user terminals are configured to detect by themselves theadditional position information.

Therefore, for using the additional measurements discussed above, aninterface and/or functionality may be introduced, according to anexemplary embodiment, in the user terminal alone such that the interfaceinstructs the user terminal to determine the additional measurementsindependent of the RNC, i.e., independent of any instructions receivedfrom the communication network. This interface/functionality may beimplemented in software or a combination of software and hardware, aswill be discussed later in more details. Thus, according to thisexemplary embodiment, the user terminal 12 itself initiates and performscertain desired measurements without control from RNC 20.

For context, and purely as an exemplary embodiment, a brief discussionwill first be provided of an exemplary AECID fingerprinting positioningmethod and associated WCDMA system, both of which can be used accordingto exemplary positioning embodiments. More details of this method can befound in T. Wigren, PCT/SE2005/001485 entitled “Adaptive Enhanced CellIdentity Positioning”, and PCT/SE2006/000132, entitled “Path LossPolygon Positioning”. It will, however, be understood that the exemplarypositioning methods and mechanisms disclosed herein are applicable toany fingerprinting positioning method and in any type of Radio AccessNetwork (RAN). The AECID positioning method is based on the idea thathigh precision positioning measurements, e.g., A-GPS measurements, canbe seen as points that belong to regions where certain cellular radiopropagation conditions persist. In its simplest form, A-GPS measurementsthat are performed at the same time as a certain cell ID is valid,represent A-GPS measurements that fall within a specific cell of acellular system. The AECID positioning method recognizes this andintroduces a tagging of high precision measurements according to certaincriteria including, e.g., (1) that the cell IDs that are detected by theterminal that performs the high precision position measurement, (2)quantized path loss or signal strength measurements, with respect tomultiple RBSs, performed by the terminal that performs the highprecision position measurement, (3) quantized Round Trip Time (RTT, inWCDMA) or Timing Advance (TA, in GSM), (4) quantized noise rise,representing the load of a CDMA system, (5) radio connection informationlike the radio access bearer (RAB), and (6) quantized time. The tagsused in such AECID positioning methods typically include a vector ofindices, each index taking an enumerable number of discrete values.Thus, continuous variables used for tagging, such as path loss, need tobe quantized.

The second step of the AECID positioning method is to collect all highprecision positioning measurements that have the same tag in separatehigh precision measurement clusters, and to perform further processingof that cluster in order to refine it. It is clear that each suchcluster includes high precision position measurements collected from aregion with similar radio conditions—hence the measurements are normallyfrom the same well defined geographical region. More specifically, suchgeographical regions are normally substantially smaller than theextension of a cell of the cellular system. In a third step of the AECIDpositioning method, a polygon that represents the geographical extensionof a cluster is computed, for each stored high precision positionmeasurement cluster. Two of the properties of such algorithms include,for example, that the area of the polygon is minimized (accuracy hencemaximized) and that the probability that the terminal is within thepolygon (the confidence) is precisely known (it is set as a constraintin the algorithm).

Thus far, exemplary steps towards the creation of a tagged database ofpolygons have been described. An AECID position can now be determined bya first determination of the persisting tag. This determination can beperformed by looking up cell IDs, by performing auxiliary measurementsand by looking up auxiliary connection information, as described above.The polygon corresponding to the determined tag is then looked up in thetagged database of polygons, followed by a reporting, e.g., over RANAP,using the polygon format. FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary block diagramfor handling this AECID processing in the RNC.

As mentioned above, high precision positioning methods are used in suchAECID positioning methods. In this context, high precision positioningmethods can be considered as those which have the potential to meet,e.g., the North-American E-911 emergency positioning requirements.Methods that meet these requirements are capable of obtainingpositioning accuracies of either (terminal based) to within 50 meters(67% of the time) and to within 150 m (95% of the time), or (networkbased) to within 100 meters (67% of the time) and to within 300 m (95%of the time).

Assisted GPS (A-GPS) positioning is an enhancement of the globalpositioning system (GPS) and is one such high precision positioningtechnique which can be used to generate data points for AECID. Anexample of a A-GPS positioning system is displayed in FIG. 3. In thisfigure, GPS reference receivers 22 attached to, e.g., a cellularcommunication system 10, collect assistance data that, when transmittedto GPS receivers in user terminals 12 connected to the cellularcommunication system 10, enhances the performance of the GPS terminalreceivers 12. Typically, A-GPS accuracy can become as good as 10 metersalso without differential operation. The accuracy becomes worse in denseurban areas and indoors, where the sensitivity is most often not highenough for detection of the very weak signals from the GPS satellites.

In the example of FIG. 3, the A-GPS is implemented in a WCDMA system. Inthis system, the RNC controller 20 acts as the node that collects,refines and distributes assistance data to the user terminals 12. Thecore network CN 20 requests positioning of the user terminal 12 over theradio access network application part (RANAP) interface. In response,the RNC 20 may use various kinds of A-GPS techniques, all of which willtypically, however, build on assistance data being handled by a node inthe cellular communication system. The RNC 20 orders positioningmeasurements to be performed in the user terminal 12, measurements thatare performed by dedicated A-GPS receiver hardware in the user terminal12. These receivers detect GPS transmissions from the satellites thatare also denoted space vehicles (SVs) 24.

Similar to A-GPS, the Uplink Time Difference Of Arrival (UTDOA)positioning method is another high precision positioning technique whichis based on time of arrival measurements. However, in the UTDOA casemeasurements of transmissions from the user terminals are performed inseveral RBSs. An advantage with UTDOA as compared to A-GPS is the factthat the signal strengths are higher, something that enhances theability to perform positioning indoors. The accuracy of UTDOA isexpected to be worse than that of A-GPS though, mainly because the radiopropagation conditions are worse along the surface of the earth thanwhen GPS radio signals are received from satellites at high elevationangles. For various reasons UTDOA is also an expensive technology todeploy. There is also a counterpart to UTDOA specified in 3GPP whichoperates in the downlink, i.e., measurements of time of arrivals ofradio signals transmitted by several RBSs are performed in the userterminal. In practice this OTDOA-IPDL method unfortunately lacks thesensitivity to provide useful high precision performance.

As mentioned above, various problems with the existing technology, thatare solved by these exemplary embodiments include: (1) the availabilityof only a limited amount of positioning information over the describedinterfaces within the terminal (or other similar cellular phoneinterfaces) which thereby limits the accuracy of the fingerprintingpositioning as performed by service providers, and (2) a present lack ofwell defined cellular phone functionality for: (a) initiation ofposition related additional measurements and (b) reporting of suchadditional, position related measurement results, to the interface ofthe user terminal, instead of reporting over the air-interface to theRAN.

According to an exemplary embodiment, initiating additional positionrelated measurement in the user terminal may be achieved by creatingsoftware (SW) that mimics the radio resource control (RRC) interface(for the WCDMA example), i.e., that injects a message in the receivedstream of messages from the RAN to the user terminal 12. The additionalposition measurements may be performed by the user terminal in additionto the GPS and/or A-GPS position information discussed above. Accordingto an exemplary embodiment, the user terminal may be configured todetermine the position information (GPS and/or A-GPS) simultaneouslywith the additional position information. However, these measurementsmay be performed sequentially. Further, according to another exemplaryembodiment, the results of the measurements for position information andadditional position information may be send together or separately fromthe user terminal to the server. In WCDMA this could, for example, be aMEASUREMENT CONTROL message. In a GSM use case similar messages would beadded in Radio Resource Link Protocol (RRLP). According to anotherexemplary embodiment, it is possible to couple the measurementfunctionality directly to the interface of the user terminal 12. Theadvantage with the above solution is that existing functionalities,available in the existing user terminals that are standard compliant,can be re-used. In the GSM case the functionality would use LocationServices (LCS) and measurement capabilities in either the control plane(typically using RRLP) or the user plane (typically using OMA SUPL).

Thus, according to an exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 4, a method forachieving the functions described above is described. In step 40, theuser terminal 12 generates a message that requests the measurement of acertain parameter. An interface (that will be discussed later) of theuser terminal, based on the generated message, initiates in step 42 themeasurement of the parameter. In one exemplary embodiment, the messageis generated by the interface. Based on the request from the interface,other modules of the user terminal perform the actual measurement of therequested parameter in step 44. The interface may detect in step 46,whether the message was generated within the user terminal or wasreceived from the RNC 20 of the communication system 14. If the messagewas received from outside the user terminal 12, then the interface maysend the measured corresponding parameter to the RNC 20 in step 48.However, if the message was received from within the user terminal 12,for example from the interface, then the measured parameter is sent instep 50 to the interface. The interface may collect, in an optional step52, further information related to the position of the user terminal,and the measured parameter and this information are sent in step 54 fromthe user terminal to a server, that might be part of the communicationsystem 14 or may be external to the communication system 14.

FIG. 5 illustrates the initiation of the additional measurement reportsby a user terminal according to an exemplary embodiment. FIG. 5 showsthat the RAN/RNC 14 sends a first message, containing an identifier ID1,to the user terminal 12. A receiver 28, which might be a transceiver,within the user terminal 12 may receive the first message. The firstmessage and a second message generated by a message generator 30, alsowithin the user terminal 12, are provided to a handler 32. The secondmessage may include a different identifier ID2, which is reserved onlyfor messages generated within the user terminal 12. The handler 32receives the messages with identifiers ID1 and ID2 and instructs aposition related measurement unit 34 to perform the measurementsrequested by the first and second messages.

According to an exemplary embodiment, a mechanism that directs reportscarrying position related measurement reports, e.g., including some orall of the additional position related information described above, to asoftware instance that is connected to the interface within the userterminal is discussed with reference to FIG. 6. Only reports whichcorrespond to measurements initiated from the user terminal, should bedirected to this software instance. Hence a mechanism that distinguishesbetween the source of measurement orders (i.e., RAN or user terminal)may also be provided. In WCDMA, one such mechanism is available in termsof the measurement Id of the MEASUREMENT CONTROL messages. So onededicated measurement Id2 could be reserved for user terminal initiatedmeasurement orders of position related information. In GSM, RRLP offersa set of messages and functionality intended for or use full todetermine the hand sets location, such as measurements for E-OTD andA-GNSS. FIG. 6 illustrates an example of reporting such measurements,some back to the RAN and others toward a dedicated SW instance of thecellular phone, in this case the positioning interface itself.

More specifically, FIG. 6 shows how the position related measurementresources 34 provides the measured parameters to handler 32, wherereports including the measured parameters include the identities ID1 andID2. The handler 32 may include a selection unit 62, discussed later andshown in FIGS. 7 and 8, that determines based on, for example, presetrules, that reports including ID1 should be sent to the RAN/RNC 14 whilereports including ID2 should be sent to the interface 36. In otherwords, this selection unit may perform the function described in step 46in FIG. 5. The transmitter 28 transmits the measured parameterassociated with ID1 to the RAN/RNC 14 but not the measured parameterassociated with ID2. In one exemplary embodiment, the transmitter 28 maybe configured to transmit the measured parameter associated with ID2 toan external server 60.

The interface 38 discussed above is show in FIG. 7 as including, forexample, the message generator unit 30, the positioning interface 36,and the selecting unit 62. The functions of these units may beimplemented, according to an exemplary embodiment, by a softwareinstance that may be run on the computing configuration shown in FIG. 8.FIG. 7 also shows that the interface 38 is fully inside the userterminal 12 and communicates with other parts 64 of the user terminal.Thus, a technical effect of such computing configuration is the internalgeneration of messages for requesting specific position relatedmeasurements.

FIG. 8 shows a schematic diagram of the user terminal 12. The userterminal may include a CPU 80 connected via a bus 82 to a memory 84. Theuser terminal may include a measuring unit 34, that measures theparameters requested by the first and/or second messages, the selectionunit 62, the interface 38, the transceiver 28 and the generation unit 30discussed above.

According to another exemplary embodiment, one or more extensions to theinterface 38 within the terminal 12 are possible in order to make theadditional position related information available for transmission, e.g.to a server 60 on the internet, external to the RAN, as shown in FIG. 3.These interface extensions can include at least the three differenttypes of additional position related information described above.

Thus, it will be appreciated that the exemplary embodiments provide userterminal functionality for initiation of additional position relatedmeasurements from the user terminal itself, reporting of additionalposition related measured results, to an instance of the user terminalitself, making the additional position related information available atan interface discussed above, within the user terminal itself andmechanisms for signaling of the additional position related information,e.g. to a server residing somewhere on the Internet or a unit of thecommunication network. The additional position information may besignaled transparently, as a bit stream that is not decoded until itreaches the server, i.e., the end user. In this case the communicationnetwork is completely unaware of the positioning information transferthat takes place. Based on this information, i.e., position informationand additional position information, the server may build a databasethat maps positions in the grid with the reported measurements of theuser terminals. Based on this database, the server is able to identifythe location of a user terminal when that user terminal sends theadditional position relation information to the server and/orconventional positioning information by searching which point of thegrid in the database has the same additional and/or conventionalposition relation information.

According to an exemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. 9, there is amethod for collecting, in addition to position data, additionalpositioning data in a user terminal served by a wireless communicationnetwork. The method includes a step 900 of initiating, by generating amessage within the user terminal, collection of the additionalpositioning data, wherein the additional positioning data includesinformation based on which a physical location of the user terminal isdetermined, a step 902 of measuring, by the user terminal, at least oneparameter related to the physical location of the user terminal inresponse to the message, a step 904 of producing, within the userterminal, measurement reports that include the at least one parameter, astep 906 of selecting, within the user terminal, one or more measurementreports that were generated in response to the message generated by theuser terminal, a step 908 of reporting the selected one or moremeasurement reports to an interface within the user terminal, and a step910 of transmitting, from the interface, the reported one or moremeasurement reports to an external server or to the communicationnetwork.

For purposes of illustration and not of limitation, an example of arepresentative user terminal capable of carrying out operations inaccordance with the exemplary embodiments is illustrated in FIG. 10. Itshould be recognized, however, that the principles of the presentexemplary embodiments are equally applicable to standard computingsystems.

The exemplary arrangement 1000 may include a processing/control unit1002, such as a microprocessor, reduced instruction set computer (RISC),or other central processing module. The processing unit 1002 need not bea single device, and may include one or more processors. For example,the processing unit 1002 may include a master processor and associatedslave processors coupled to communicate with the master processor.

The processing unit 1002 may control the basic functions of the mobileterminal as dictated by programs available in the storage/memory 1004.Thus, the processing unit 1002 may execute the functions described inFIGS. 2 to 6. More particularly, the storage/memory 1004 may include anoperating system and program modules for carrying out functions andapplications on the mobile terminal. For example, the program storagemay include one or more of read-only memory (ROM), flash ROM,programmable and/or erasable ROM, random access memory (RAM), subscriberinterface module (SIM), wireless interface module (WIM), smart card, orother removable memory device, etc. The program modules and associatedfeatures may also be transmitted to the mobile computing arrangement1000 via data signals, such as being downloaded electronically via anetwork, such as the Internet.

One of the programs that may be stored in the storage/memory 1004 is aspecific program 1006. As previously described, the specific program1006 may interact with the interface 38 to select measurementsassociated with a certain ID or initiated within the user terminal anddirect those measurements to a desired location within the userterminal. The program 1006 and associated features may be implemented insoftware and/or firmware operable by way of the processor 1002. Theprogram storage/memory 1004 may also be used to store data 1008, such asthe various authentication rules, or other data associated with thepresent exemplary embodiments. In one exemplary embodiment, the programs1006 and data 1008 are stored in non-volatile electrically-erasable,programmable ROM (EEPROM), flash ROM, etc. so that the information isnot lost upon power down of the mobile terminal 1000.

The processor 1002 may also be coupled to user interface 1010 elementsassociated with the mobile terminal. The user interface 1010 of themobile terminal may include, for example, a display 1012 such as aliquid crystal display, a keypad 1014, speaker 1016, and a microphone1018. These and other user interface components are coupled to theprocessor 1002 as is known in the art. The keypad 1014 may includealpha-numeric keys for performing a variety of functions, includingdialing numbers and executing operations assigned to one or more keys.Alternatively, other user interface mechanisms may be employed, such asvoice commands, switches, touch pad/screen, graphical user interfaceusing a pointing device, trackball, joystick, or any other userinterface mechanism.

The mobile computing arrangement 1000 may also include a digital signalprocessor (DSP) 1020. The DSP 1020 may perform a variety of functions,including analog-to-digital (ND) conversion, digital-to-analog (D/A)conversion, speech coding/decoding, encryption/decryption, errordetection and correction, bit stream translation, filtering, etc. Thetransceiver 1022, generally coupled to an antenna 1024, may transmit andreceive the radio signals associated with a wireless device.

The mobile computing arrangement 1000 of FIG. 10 is provided as arepresentative example of a computing environment in which theprinciples of the present exemplary embodiments may be applied. From thedescription provided herein, those skilled in the art will appreciatethat the present invention is equally applicable in a variety of othercurrently known and future mobile and fixed computing environments. Forexample, the specific application 1006 and associated features, and data1008, may be stored in a variety of manners, may be operable on avariety of processing devices, and may be operable in mobile deviceshaving additional, fewer, or different supporting circuitry and userinterface mechanisms. It is noted that the principles of the presentexemplary embodiments are equally applicable to non-mobile terminals,i.e., landline computing systems.

Numerous variations of the afore-described exemplary embodiments arecontemplated. The above-described exemplary embodiments are intended tobe illustrative in all respects, rather than restrictive, of the presentinvention. Thus the present invention is capable of many variations indetailed implementation that can be derived from the descriptioncontained herein by a person skilled in the art. All such variations andmodifications are considered to be within the scope and spirit of thepresent invention as defined by the following claims. No element, act,or instruction used in the description of the present application shouldbe construed as critical or essential to the invention unless explicitlydescribed as such. Also, used herein, the article “a” is intended toinclude one or more items.

1. A user equipment (UE) configured to be served by a communicationnetwork, the user terminal comprising: a software interface operative toinstruct the UE to determine additional positioning data independent ofany instructions received from the communication network, wherein theadditional positioning data is in addition to position data and includesinformation based on which a physical location of the UE is determined;processing circuitry operative to: determine the additional positioningdata; report the additional positioning data to the software interface;and signal the additional positioning data to an external server.
 2. TheUE of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is further operative tomeasure a parameter related to the physical location of the UE.
 3. TheUE of claim 2, wherein the parameter is one of a cell ID, broadcastinformation received by the UE from a cell, quantized path loss of areceived signal, signal strength, quantized noise rise, radio connectioninformation, and quantized time.
 4. The UE of claim 3, wherein theparameter is measured independent of any instructions received from thecommunication network.
 5. The UE of claim 3, wherein the parameter ismeasured in response to a request from the communication network.
 6. TheUE of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is further operative toprovide information to the external server or to the communicationnetwork to build a database of fingerprinted positions, the providedinformation being assembled based on the position data, which includesglobal positioning information, and the additional positioning data,wherein the position data and the additional positioning data aremeasured simultaneously and sent together to the external server or tothe communication network.
 7. The UE of claim 1, wherein the physicalposition of the UE is determined in the external server, based only onthe additional positioning data transmitted from the UE.
 8. The UE ofclaim 1, wherein the additional positioning data comprises at least oneof a result of SFN-SFN type 1 and 2 measurements, a result of E-OTDmeasurements, and/or a result of inter-radio access technology(inter-RAT) measurements.
 9. The UE of claim 2, wherein the parameterrequested by the communication network is Assisted Global PositioningSystem (A-GPS) position information.
 10. A method performed by a userequipment (UE) operating in a communication network, the methodcomprising: receiving, from a software interface residing on the UE,instructions to determine additional positioning data independent of anyinstructions received from the communication network, wherein theadditional positioning data is in addition to position data and includesinformation based on which a physical location of the UE is determined;determining the additional positioning data; reporting the additionalpositioning data to the software interface; and signaling the additionalpositioning data to an external server.
 11. The method of claim 10,further comprising measuring a parameter related to the physicallocation of the UE.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the parameter isone of a cell ID, broadcast information received by the UE from a cell,quantized path loss of a received signal, signal strength, quantizednoise rise, radio connection information, and quantized time.
 13. Themethod of claim 12, wherein the parameter is measured independent of anyinstructions received from the communication network.
 14. The method ofclaim 12, wherein the parameter is measured in response to a requestfrom the communication network.
 15. The method of claim 10, wherein theadditional positioning data is related to SFN-SFN type 1 or 2measurements, E-OTD measurements, or inter-radio access technologymeasurements.
 16. The method of claim 10, further comprising providinginformation to the external server or to the communication network tobuild a database of fingerprinted positions, the provided informationbeing assembled based on the position data, which includes globalpositioning information, and the additional positioning data, whereinthe position data and the additional positioning data are measuredsimultaneously and sent together to the external server or to thecommunication network.
 17. The method of claim 10, wherein the physicalposition of the UE is determined in the external server, based only onthe additional positioning data transmitted from the UE.
 18. The methodof claim 11, wherein the parameter requested by the communicationnetwork is Assisted Global Positioning System (A-GPS) positioninformation.